Where to Eat - Tataki

Tataki is one of my favorite sushi places in the city. I love their innovative roles, fresh fish and efforts in sustainability. On every table there is a pamphlet outlining the best and worst fish to eat in order to protect the diversity of our oceans. They also have a killer happy hour.

I took Andrew here for his birthday celebration dinner - so be prepared for the absurd amount of food we ordered. We started with the above garlic edamame. To be honest I wouldn't get this again. This is the only thing I haven't liked here. The roasted garlic was overdone and had a bitter burnt taste to it. Also not helping was an abundance of fish sauce that gave off a sour taste. With so many great options this was a disappointing choice.

As Andrew and I usually celebrate with all that is fried we ordered the crab croquettes. These panko breaded crab cakes are drizzled with a sweet sauce - maybe plum - and dotted with their delicious spicy aioli. Usually I am totally bored by overdone spicy aiolis but this one is really done right. They were not incredibly special but were filling and had a comfort food feeling. I would not be excited to get these again with all the great options available.

Tataki's fried calamari is delicious. It is always perfectly cooked, not over breaded, and served with that spicy aioli I raved about above. PS - It's on the Happy Hour discounted menu. 

The baked mussels are my favorite starter at Tataki. The large mussels are baked after being smothered in a spicy sauce. They are filling but aren't breaded or fried, which is more in line with what I like to eat.

The star dish here is without a doubt their namesake. I always order the tataki deluxe when I dine here. This includes a selection of all the five tataki specials - twenty pieces of seared fish with dipping sauces. 

My favorite varies with time to time so I always get the deluxe so I can have them all. The katsuo is seared skipjack tuna sprinkled with sliced scallions and accompanied by a sweet mustard sauce. The lwana is arctic char and capers over sliced cucumbers with a yuzu citrus sauce. The bincho is seared albacore tuna with garlic sauce. The hotate is seared Hokkaido scallops with rice crackers, lemon zest and a mixture of masago and citrus aioli.  The kurodai us seared black sea bream with avocado, jalopeno and masago with a jalopeno-ponzu sauce. All are delicious but my current top three must haves are the lwana, hotate and kurodai. 

We finished up with one of my favorite rolls - the pacific sunrise. It has four varieties of fish wrapped in cucumber topped with ponzu sauce, microgreens and masago. I love this roll but another favorite is the golden state. This roll has spicy scallop, minced apple, seared albacore tuna, avocado and yuzo tobiko.